Wednesday, January 6, 2016

There Are Soccer Young Guns?!?!

I learned something new thanks to the latest PWE I received from Joe Shlabotnik of The Shlabotnik Report, and that is that Young Guns cards aren't just for hockey!

Yes, that is a Young Guns card from an Upper Deck soccer set (2008 Upper Deck MLS to be exact). I had no idea these existed, what an interesting way to kick off a PWE. I confess to never having heard of Adam Cristman, looks like he floated around MLS for a few years before retiring at an early age from some concussions.

There was actually a soccer card in this PWE that was even better than this one, but before we get to that let's take a look at the other cards Joe graciously sent along...

A 2015 Topps Series 1 set need, score!

A nice Roger Clemens from one of the seemingly endless number of "Broder" unlicensed sets that came out in the late '80s. I have no idea who that elderly fella with the WH cap on in the background is, but I'm intrigued...

Joe seems to have an endless supply of early '80s Topps Stickers, and this package included both a baseball and a hockey sample.

Here's a super bright and shiny turn of the century Pedro.

1976 SSPC. Going with nothing but a photo is a bold move design-wise, but I think it works just fine. I don't think I've ever seen a card from this set that I didn't like...

This envelope truly had a little bit of everything, satisfying my seemingly never-ending itch for minor league cards in the form of this Tim Wakefield from 1992 Skybox AAA. I'm fairly certain the longtime Sox knuckler is the first Buffalo Bison in my baseball card collection.

From minor league to oddball! This '75 Hostess is almost perfectly cut from the box. I'm thinking it was an adult that wielded the scissors in this instance. This is actually my first '75 Hostess card of any sort, and I'm definitely a fan.

Were it not for the second soccer card, this would have been my favorite card in the package without question. If you're wondering who that man standing next to Ted Williams is, J.D. McCarthy is famous for taking photos of MLB ballplayers over the course of a couple of decades that were used on postcards. Some more info can be found here on Bob Lemke's Blog. I'd never seen this card before but it's fantastic.

Here's that other Topps Sticker, hockey style. That would be one Peter McNab, in case you were curious.

And now, for the card that was the standout of this particular PWE...behold!

That would be my very first Topps Footballer card! Everything great about '70s Topps sports cards applied to the sport of soccer. It sounds silly, but I've wanted one of these cards, any one, for years now. I just never seem to find them in my neck of the woods, in fact I don't think I've ever seen one in person prior to receiving this.

Joe picked up a couple different examples on COMC and showed them off on his blog just before Christmas. I left a comment indicating how jealous I was, and not a week later this one was sitting in my mailbox. Unreal.

I think the backs are just as cool as the fronts, so bright and colorful. I love the soccer ball card number, and it's pretty cool to get a Liverpool card of a guy who was born in Liverpool.

Joe, I can't thank you enough for your generosity in sending this to me, along with all the other great cards that accompanied it in the envelope. The English Footballers card is without a doubt one of the most interesting cards I've ever received in a PWE, and the envelope on the whole was spot-on as usual. I'm going to have to find something significant to return the favor!

3 comments:

I'm glad you liked the cards! I saw that Liverpool card on COMC and at first I was thinking "Oh, I should tell Shane about that!", but then reason took over and I said "...Or I could just buy it and send it off in a PWE..."

..and don't worry about returning the favor, you've already sent me so many great 1960/61 Footballer cards!

I would guess that "WH" stands for "Winter Haven Red Sox", a Florida State League team at the time. That doesn't help with identifying the gentleman, but it's at least one fewer mystery.

D'OH! You shouldn't have said "endless supply of stickers" because I've officially exhausted my supply of Whaler/Bruin/Red Sox stickers.